Twister

So, about a month ago, I had compiled a list of items I needed to gather for a tornado kit. You know, all the essentials (bottled water, battery operated camping lantern, blankets, non-perishable food, etc.) that they recommend you store together as an emergency kit. For any type of natural disaster really. When I was growing up in Seattle, we had earthquake kits. Here in the Midwest, the emergency kit has dual purpose: tornados and blizzards. Should I ever live in Florida (a girl can hope, right?!) I imagine we'd have a hurricane kit.

Needless to say, "Make a Tornado Kit" was repeatedly bumped down on the to-do list in lieu of more important things. I figured it was a safe move. After all, a tornado would never touch down in the middle of Minneapolis.

But yesterday, one did.

A wedge tornado (or so the TV weather people tell me) touched down a few miles south of our house and stayed on the ground continuously for over six minutes as it traveled northeast.

Right past my sweet little house. By about a half a mile! To the south and the east!

Libby and I weren't home at the time. We had gone to visit Grammy and Poppy and were stuck there in an ongoing deluge of rain. Nicole had run an errand, and after I got ahold of her, sat inside the local Cub Foods waiting out the storm.

We were lucky, something I realize more and more with each report I see. Our power was out for about three hours, but besides that (and one relatively small branch that landed in our front yard) you would have had no idea the house was nearly hit by a tornado had I not been told so by WCCO.

I would have had no idea that less than a mile away, the rest of the Camden/Victory neighborhood looked like this:


Approximately 0.6 miles east of our house

We took a short walk through, to take in the devastation. To see if people needed immediate help. To stand in awe of the power of Mother Nature. There is only one way to describe it: a naturalistic war zone. I walked the streets, my parents and Libby by my side, and shed a tear of amazed horror, while at the same time feeling blessed that something so terrible somehow skirted just beyond reach of my sweet little house.

If you have never been near a tornado-ravaged area, it is for sure a site to behold. Roofs ripped off buildings, windows missing from stores. Chunks of sidewalk torn up. Street signs bent in half. Cars crushed. A chimney topped to the ground. Power and phone and cable lines strewn about. Branches sticking out of the roofs that were left attached to the homes they are supposed to protect. Lawn mowers mangled with branches. A section of someone's garage door mangled on the sidewalk. Debris, both man-made and natural, everywhere. Some of it, I expected.

The trees though, they caught me off guard. The trees in North Minneapolis are easily decades old, lining the berms of every street and tucked into back yards. The one behind my neighbor's house is easily 100 years old. These trees have age on their side, and all the benefits that come with it. Strong, deep roots. These trees are huge...strong...formidable...beautiful. And now, so many have been uprooted from the ground. Literally ripped up and dropped on their side, like Mother Nature thought she was a WWF wrestler. The tornado left trees on top of houses...cars...across streets. Hundreds of trees that will never shade North Minneapolis ever again. 

Today we walked to Folwell Park, just a few blocks from our house. I would guesstimate that half of the trees are gone. They lay, scattered around the park, intermingled with shingles and siding and other miscellaneous debris. One lies on top of the rest room (which led to some last minute improvising when Libby announced to us that she had to pee.) It is absolutely amazing to take in.

Mother Nature...she's pretty darn impressive. And my sweet little family in our sweet little house are so very fortunate to have eluded her power. At least this time. For as I've learned, you never know where a tornado might strike. (Time to get going on that emergency supply kit!)

Top 5 "Good Things" from Tornado Sunday:

1. Only one person lost their life in the tornado. Minneapolis, despite the devastation, is lucky. The tornado that ruined Joplin, Missouri was so much worse.
2. Seeing neighbors out helping their neighbors. Pulling out their tools and using good old fashioned hard labor to clear trees and branches from sidewalks and roads.
3. Libby's joyful soul showing us that downed trees and big branches make, as I relayed to Holly, a jungle gym and woodland playground fit for Tinkerbell and her fairy friends.
4. A pretty awesome thunder and lightning display (I can't help it...I love them!)
5. Realizing how doubly lucky I was. My weekend schedule changed recently, so I now work every third weekend instead of every other. On my old schedule, this would have been my weekend to work, which means that I would have been driving right through the tornado's path at the exact time it hit on my way downtown.

love always, Kendra

(A video from Sunday morning...I just had to share it! I apologize for  my less than stellar singing voice.)